Fred Kerley crowned 100m world champion as US secures clean sweep in Eugene

Fred Kerley was crowned 100m world champion as the USA secured a clean sweep in Eugene, Oregon.

Favourite Kerley finished ahead of team-mates Marvin Bracy and Trayvon Bromell at Hayward Field on Saturday night.

He clocked 9.86 seconds at the World Championships to add to the 100m Olympic silver he won in Tokyo last year.

It came after Great Britain’s Zharnel Hughes crashed out in the semi-final after stumbling in his heat and only running 10.13 seconds.

He said: “It was a mis-step that cost me the race. I couldn’t do anything about it. I tried my best to get back into it but the gap was just a little too much to close.

“When it happened I just tried to stay relaxed and rely on my top end speed and I know I can close the field because I am one of the fastest finishers out there. It’s just that those guys are stupid fast out of the blocks so they had a little bit of a jump ahead of me. I’d have caught them.

“It’s very difficult to go through but the Lord gives the toughest battles for the strongest soldiers and I believe I am one of the strongest soldiers and will come through the fight with my head up.”

Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs had already pulled out ahead of the semi-final saying he did not want to risk further injury.

The Italian ran 10.04 seconds on Friday but looked to be having difficulties in his heat.

Dina Asher-Smith stormed to victory in her 100m heat in 10.84 seconds – just one hundredth of a second off her British record – to qualify fastest for Sunday’s semi-final.

The defending 200m world champion who also won 100m silver three years ago said: “What I needed to do was qualify and win my heat. I’m coming here as a reigning world champion and a world silver medallist so the aspirations are high for me.

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